Who would really want to be a hard-working family GP?

THE news that six out of 10 family doctors want to retire early because they are stressed out by the workload might surprise many people.

Doctors' waiting rooms are full of bored adults and hperactive children [GETTY: Pic posed by models]

GPs get paid handsomely, they don’t do unsocial hours any more and if anything is seriously wrong they just pack the patient off to a consultant, don’t they? What’s their problem? But honestly who would really want to be a local doctor?

I avoid visiting the surgery as much as possible because it’s a hideous experience.

The place is always crowded with miserable faces, grumpy grown-ups, bored children acting up and a stream of supplicants queueing at the desk where the harassed receptionist is fighting a losing battle to cope.

Those lucky enough to have appointments sit anxiously hoping it will be their turn next but of course it isn’t. Surely that woman over there came in after me. Why has her name been called out before mine?

I am lucky in my GP. He’s a kindly, thoughtful man who likes to talk about fishing. He saved my life by spotting that I’d had a heart attack when I dismissed it as indigestion. But I wouldn’t want his job for the world.

NOR do I relish a visit to the dentist. I bust a front tooth when I fell off my bike at the age of 13 and have spent many hours in dentists’ chairs ever since, culminating in an entire day last week having implants.

I felt OK the day after but then I woke up in terrible pain with a face swollen like a hamster’s. It’s still torture now. As if that’s not bad enough I need to take out another mortgage to pay for the treatment.

Previous generations used to have all their teeth out at an early age to save trouble and expense later. In some parts of the country, incredibly, it was done as a 21st birthday present.

The practice has died out but I wonder if they might have had a point after all.

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